All of the first-party Microsoft Game Studios games coming to Xbox and PC in 2024 and beyond

The lifeblood of any console is the first-party exclusive titles. For most people, they are the primary motivating factor when it comes to choosing which of the big three console brands to get into bed with. For a long time, both Sony and Nintendo have clearly led the pack when it comes to consistently outputting quality first-party software, but Microsoft are making big moves to finally address the Xbox’s biggest weakness; a lack of kick-ass games. Now though, with Zenimax and Activision as part of their in-house development pipeline, Xbox is aiming to release a new first-party game every quarter, meaning in 2024 we should be expecting to see a new exclusive game every 3 months. That also means that, as I’m writing this, one should be coming along just about….now. Ish.

The good news is that we know of quite a few of the first-party titles currently being worked on. The bad news is that most of them have vague release windows, while some of them don’t even have that.

2024

Age of Mythology Retold (World’s Edge) September 4, 2024

Age of Mythology: Retold is a ground-up remake of the 2002 RTS classic promising modern graphics, a smart new UI and the excellent strategic gameplay that made the original so beloved.

“From the creators of the award-winning Age of Empires franchise, Age of Mythology: Retold goes beyond history to a mythical age where gods, monsters, and humans collide. Combining the best elements of the beloved Age of Mythology with modern real-time strategy design and visuals, Retold is an epic and innovative experience for old and new players alike. Secure your domain, command legendary monsters, and call upon the power of the gods to crush your enemies.”

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch, Raven Software) October 25

This years Call of Duty will launch on October 25 and promsies to deliver “the most breathtaking and spectacular Black Ops action to date”.

Set in the aftermath of the Cold War, Blacks Ops 6 is being positioned as a “epic spy thriller” with an emphasis on stealh and massive blockbuster action sequences.

And yes, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available on Game Pass on day 1.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Machine Games)

After the disappointing new Indiana Jones movie, which fell flat on its face at the box office, I’m hopeful that MachineGames can do the intrepid explorer justice. They’ve certainly proven themselves with the Wolfenstein games, after all.

Well-known voice actor Troy Baker is playing the role of Indy and does a rather terrific job of it, ably replicating the cadence of Harrison Ford.

As for the game, its shaping up to be some classic Indy adventuring, with the latest trailer showing off Indy exploring a warship precariously balanced on a cliff before being captured by those nasty Nazis. The gameplay is a fun mix of first-person shooting and mellee combat

“Grab your hat and whip and prepare to embark on an epic, globetrotting adventure in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle,” reads the official blurb. “Become the legendary archaeologist and face off against sinister forces as you fight to uncover the truth behind one of history’s greatest mysteries.”

2025 and beyond

Avowed (Obsidian Entertainment) – Early 2025

The team of Obsidian Entertainment are returning to the world of Pillars of Eternity this year with Avowed, a first-person fantasy RPG. Some form of mysterious plague is ravaging the land, so it’s going to be up to you to save the day.

Obsidian are a team with a deep history, so the hype for this one is massive. Surprisingly, most of what we’ve seen so far has focused on the action side of the equation, which is odd because Obsidian is known for its rich RPG mechanics.

Avowed made an appearance at the Xbox Games Showcase this year, but still no release date, sadly. It has now been confirmed to have been delayed out of 2024 into early 2025.

DOOM: The Dark Ages (id Software) – 2025

Revealed at Xbox Games Showcase 2024, DOOM: The Dark Ages is a prequel to both DOOM (2016) and DOOM: Eternal. It’ll tell the story of the Slayer when he was a super-weapon for the Gods themselves.

Mostly though, it’s going to involve a lot of blood and gore. The trailer we got to see shows the Slayer rocking a badass fur cape and a kick-ass new shield that has a chainsaw rim.

Need for awesomeness? You can hop in a giant mech, wield a gun that uses skulls as ammunition and ride a dragon. This might be the most heavy metal thing to ever heavy metal since Eddie Munson shredded Metallica’s Master of Puppets to lure flesh-eating flying monsters away from his pals in Stranger Things.

Fable (Playground Games) – 2025

The Fable franchise was once a headlining act for Microsoft’s original Xbox and the Xbox 360, with developer Lionhead managing to put together three entries under the slightly insane supervision of Peter Molyneux. And yet, it kind of fell apart after the third game. A few spin-offs were made, but Fable faded away, becoming little more than a fairytale told to little children as they lay in bed.

This revival of the franchise is being headed up by PlayGround Games, a slightly surprising choice given that they primarily make the ongoing Forza Horizon series. Even more surprising is that Eidos-Montreal, currently owned by the quickly collapsing Embracer Group, is helping out.

The reveal trailer certainly looked promising. We then got another look at the Xbox Games Showcase in June, revealing that the player’s mentor is the greatest hero in all of Albion, a block called Humphrey. Oh, and Humphrey’s old protégé is the big bad villain of the game.

Finally, while we don’t have an exact release date, the latest trailer did reveal that it will come out in 2025.

Perfect Dark (The Initiative) 2025

The Initiative was formed in 2018 by Microsoft, a crack team composed of numerous industry veterans brought together in order to craft a singular vision: a new Perfect Dark.

The lid was finally lifted on Perfect Dark at the Xbox Games Showcase. Described as a “first-person secret agent thriller” the game is designed for new players but does slot into the existing Perfect Dark canon as well.

The emphasis is on completing missions in a variety of ways, from stealth and smart use of gadgets to using parkour and shooting everything that moves.

While we didn’t get an exact release date, we now know that Perfect Dark will be out in 2025.

South of Midnight (Compulsion Games) 2025

“South of Midnight is a spellbinding third-person action-adventure game set in the American Deep South. Learn an ancient weaving power, explore the Deep South mythos and confront mysterious creatures in this folktale for modern times.”

It certainly has an intriguing blurb, doesn’t it? South of Midnight is Compulsion Games latest project and its a doozy. From the catchy music to the beautiful art-style, South of Midnight grabs your attention.

The latest trailer gives us a little glimpse at the gameplay. The game employs a frame-skipping graphical style that’s proving to be quite divisive as some people love it, while others think it’s like having a deliberately bad framerate.

Gears of War: E-Day (The Coalition)

Most of us were expecting the announcement of Gears 6 at the Xbox Games Showcase, or even remasters of the first three games. Instead, the Coalition hit us with a true surprise: a prequel.

Gears of War: E-Day takes place long before the first game. It follows a young Marcus Fenix during the events of Emergence Day, when the Locus horde first rise from the depths of the planet and unleash horror on the world.

According to The Coalition, the aim is to make the Locus scary again, and to tell a story of an emerging brotherhood between Marcus Fenix and the returning Dominic Santiago, who is looking considerably less dead than the last time we saw him in Gears of War 3.

Blade (Arkane Lyon)

Blade was a surprise reveal at the 2023 Game Awards that caught a lot of people, myself included, off-guard. The classic Marvel character has appeared in various games over the years, such as Marvel’s Midnight Suns, but this will be the first time the vampire hunter has been the star of the show.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about this one. It’s going to be set in France, it’s going to be a 3rd person action game and…that’s kind of it. Arkane revealed this one quite early into its development, perhaps as a way to bounce back from the disappointing Redfall, and as such we don’t even have a vague release date. In fact, at no point has Microsoft or Arkane even confirmed that its an Xbox exclusive. Even the reveal trailer lacked any Xbox or Game Pass logos.

Regardless of all that, a game from Arkane Lyon, the team behind Dishonoured and Deathloop, where we get to play as the most badass vampire hunter to ever exist sounds amazing.

Clockwork Revolution (InXile)

As InXile’s first game under the Microsoft banner, Clockwork Revolution is shaping up to be something rather special, at least, if our brief glimpse of it is anything to go by.

A first-person action game with some roleplaying flair, Clockwork Revolutiuon seems to draw inspiration from the likes of the BioShock series, more specifically BioShock Infinite. The Steampunk Victorian setting immediately grabs my attention, and when you throw time manipulation into the mix you officially have my interest.

Everwild (Rare)

Rare has been quietly toiling away in the background now. Since releasing the highly successful Sea of Thieves their only other output was Battletoads in 2022, begging the question of what the historic studio has been up to.

Everwild is the answer, and they’ve actually been working on it since 2014, though it was completely rebooted during that time due to creative director Simon Woodroffe leaving the project.

So what is it? Truthfully, we don’t really know. The game’s official page simply describes it as: “Unique and unforgettable experiences await in a natural and magical world.”

The trailer doesn’t give away too much, either, outside of its truly eye-catching visual style. We’ll just have to wait and see.

The Outer Worlds 2 (Obsidian Entertainment)

Before Starfield there was another space-RPG, albeit one with its tongue firmly rammed into its cheek. The Outer Worlds was a lot of fun, and under the purview of Microsoft, the sequel is set to be bigger, shinier and funnier.

But right now all we have to go on is the reveal trailer which came out in 2021 and thoroughly and ruthlessly took the piss out of the standard game reveal trailer template. The trailer also happily pointed out that the developers didn’t have any gameplay ready to show and that the only thing they had finished was the title. It was easily the most honest trailer at E3.

Considering Avowed is currently Obsidian’s focus, I wouldn’t expect to see The Outer Worlds 2 until 2025. I’d be very happy to be wrong, though.

State of Decay 3 (Undead Labs)

State of Decay finally emerged at the Xbox Games Showcase, but sadly no release date was forthcoming. We did get a nice new trailer though, so that’s something.

The fact that we’ve still not seen any gameplay is a little worrying, however. It has been four years since the game was announced, after all.

Project Mara ( Ninja Theory)

You might be seeing a theme here when I say that we really don’t know much about Project Mara. It was announced back in 2020 and is described as an experimental project based on just one character and one location. Part of that experimental nature is an incredibly details and realistic recreation of a real-life apartment.

The trailer also seems to indicate a focus on the lead character’s mental state, which makes sense given Ninja Theory’s other game, Hellblade, has a main character suffering from psychosis.

Age of Mythology: Retold (World’s Edge)

World’s Edge was established by Microsoft in 2019 to oversee the Age of Empire RTS series. They’ve achieved that goal quite admirably, releasing definitive editions for Age of Empires 2 and 3, as well as helping Relic craft a brand new entry in the series titled Age of Empires 4.

Their next project, however, takes them away from Age of Empires and into the Age of Mythology. Released over 20 years ago, Age of Mythology was a spinoff of the Empires series, ditching the historical setting for something a little more fantastical.

Since their previous efforts have been received quite well, I think we can be confident in assuming Age of Mythology: Retold will be a solid remaster of a classic game. I can’t wait to play it.

The Elder Scrolls 6 (Bethesda Game Studios)

Bethesda took the liberty of announcing the follow-up to Skyrim five freaking years ago, giving us nothing more than a logo and some music. And that’s it. Talk about a cock-tease, eh?

Now that Starfield is out, most of the team is presumably focused on the next Elder Scrolls, but even so, it looks like we’re at least a few years away from stomping around Tamriel. Leaked documents suggest a 2026 release date, although that must obviously be taken with a hefty pinch of salt.

In the meanwhile, Bethesda will probably launch Skyrim on at least a few more devices, including your nan’s pacemaker. They might even release a Special Edition trailer of the Elder Scrolls announcement teaser. Wouldn’t that be fun?

(That’s sarcasm Bethesda. Don’t take the idea seriously, for God’s sake.)